Educate new governing board members

Have you ever joined a committee and, felt so lost during your first meeting that you wondered, “Am I in the right room?” Don’t let that happen to your new board members. Present new members with a welcome packet that contains the following items:

• A summary of the governing board’s responsibilities and the medical staff’s/hospital’s expectations of its members
• Minutes from one or two past meetings to provide new members with a sense of how meetings are conducted and which issues are discussed during meetings
• A list of acronyms and medical lingo and definitions
• An invitation to attend an educational session for new board members provided by an external consulting or education firm (if the hospital does not have in place its own formalized education program for board members)